JONESBORO, Ark. (3/16/18) – Bradey Welsh and Bo Ritter combined to give up just three runs on seven hits, but the Arkansas State offense stranded 11 runners in a 3-1 loss to Coastal Carolina in its Sun Belt Conference opener at Tomlinson Stadium on Friday evening.

Welsh tossed five innings and gave up three runs, one earned, on five hits while Ritter followed with four innings of shutout baseball. The duo combined for seven strikeouts and walked just two on the night.

Coastal Carolina (13-7, 1-0 SBC) scored three runs on three A-State (8-6, 0-1 SBC) miscues in the third inning and starter Jason Bilous settled into a groove for the Chanticleers after giving up just one run on two hits in seven innings of work.

CCU scored in the third inning when Cory Wood reached on a fielding error that allowed Matt Beaird to score from third. Seth Lancaster then scored on a passed ball and Wood came around to score on a wild pitch before Welsh got a strikeout to get out of the inning.

Arkansas State responded by loading the bases in the bottom half of the inning and scored a run when Kyle MacDonald drew a one-out walk to bring in Drew Tipton, but the Red Wolves were unable to push across any more runs in the inning.

MacDonald went 2-for-3 on the night with a walk and an RBI.

Ritter relieved Welsh in the sixth inning and retired the first seven batters he faced. He had five strikeouts and gave up just two hits and did not walk a batter.

The series continues Saturday afternoon at 6:30 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium.

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